Star Trek: Picard star Patrick Stewart has shared the story behind his new Number One, explaining why Jean-Luc has a canine companion in the new series and how they settled on a pit bull for the pint-sized part.
Speaking to StarTrek.com, Stewart opened up about the creative decision of adding a dog to the cast line-up of the Star Trek show, as he suggested Picard’s four-legged friend serves to reveal something deeper about the retired captain of the Enterprise.
[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/patrick-stewart-why-did-picard-leave-starfleet”]
“I wanted a dog because I have, only in the last four years, renewed my acquaintance with dogs,” Steward confessed in the interview. “I had a dog, a border collie, when I was little and nothing since then. I thought all we need to do is to have a dog at Picard’s side. And that, without any dialogue or any dramatic reference, will say a lot about this man, that he now has a dog always at his side.”
As an avowed pit bull rescue enthusiast, Stewart revealed he had some influence over the decision of which breed was going to be selected for the Admiral’s pet, admitting his strong association with pit bulls helped to determine the outcome.
[ignvideo url=”https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/01/12/star-trek-the-picard-shows-timeline-explained”]
“Well, I am obsessed with pit bulls. What a dog, and how ill-used they have been, appalling used,” he explained. “In England, they’re a banned breed. I adopted my first pit bull and we already were excited about the thought of taking her back to England, and we couldn’t do it. They won’t be let in the country. I even talked to the British Embassy in Washington about it and they said, ‘There’s nothing we can do.’
“I’m now part of a campaign working in the UK to get this legislation changed because they are the most sensitive, the most loving, the most giving, the most affectionate creatures that you could ever possibly hope to meet.”
[widget path=”global/article/imagegallery” parameters=”albumSlug=star-trek-picard-photos&captions=true”]
In the new series, Picard awards his pooch the affectionate nickname of “Number One”, as a reference to the informal title of a second-in-command officer aboard a Starfleet ship. In the original Star Trek: The Next Generation, William Riker (played by Jonathan Frakes) starred as the second-in-command to Picard and was frequently referred to as Number One.
For more on Star Trek: Picard, read our review of the first episode, find out how Picard changes everything for Star Trek, and discover how Picard fits into the Star Trek timeline.
[poilib element=”accentDivider”]
Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com Star Trek: Picard's Patrick Stewart Explains Why Jean-Luc Has a Dog